That building behind the scorpion car with the flags above it is the coffee bar at center camp. It was the only place I found where I could reliably get a cup of coffee. It was also where there was always a large crowd of people I hadn't met before. I was headed there when I took this picture.

I wasn't in Center Camp long before they called for volunteers to unload a busload of Chai and soy milk. I had to stand about where I took these pictures and pass it on down the line, except when it was my job to lift it to the guys in the truck, which the woman with the cowboy hat was doing when I took this picture. That particular job was too hard to keep doing that long, so we switched off doing it. I got a free cup of coffee out of about half an hours work and had a great time.

After that I went across the street to the Pancake Playhouse. They had been closed earlier, but now they were pumping out yummy looking pancakes like these. I was lucky to be looking for condiments not long after somebody had opened a jar of plum jam, so that's what I had on them. That was lucky, because I didn't have a plate, so syrup was not really a neat option.

Those blue cups under that sticker are from the environmental law club at Georgetown University, or something like that. The woman with the big grin explained to me that she plans to be an environmental lawyer when she gets out of Law School. All I could say is "Good Luck". It's a pleasure to meet people like that.

I thought she was a butterfly when I walked up to her, but she explained that she was an Elf.

This guy went by the name "Big Cock."

Every radial street from the playa to the outer edge of the event had blue rooms like these between Earth orbit and Mars orbit. These were different from the other ones I saw because someone had taken the time to "theme camp" them. The first clue was the letters under the official "don't put anything here that didn't go through your body" signs.

This notice at the end of the line explained the concept. Everybody is an artist!

The sign said this was art... I can't remember if I took this picture before or after I added something to the pile.

Three or four times a day a water truck goes by spraying the roads to keep the dust down. As a practical matter, that's the only good chance you get to bathe on the playa. I'm sure there are pictures like this one of me doing the same thing out there. The only difference is that I take my shoes off with the rest of my clothes before going for it. Wet shoes seem like a bad idea to me, especially when you don't need to let it happen.

I think the woman in the blue glasses was the one who told me that she had seen my other Burning Man pictures browsing the web.